Blackburn Seaplane
Posted: August 6th, 2016, 8:44 pm
Back in early 2015,sevaral LMA members incuding myself were asked to drive over to B A Systems at Brough near Hull to discuss plans that were being considered to build a large flying model of the very first aircraft to be built at the Factory 100 years ago this year.Because of the location of the factory alongside the Humber---it was a Seaplane and they had their own slipway into the water direct from the site . On our first visit,we came away thinking it was a dream that would not see fruition---considering that the group involved were more used to building full size Hawk aircraft with composite materials etc.
The plan was to have the aircraft ready to fly by September this year for the Factory families day.
After several more visits and many phone calls over the last year discussing best ways of construction etc,a couple of months back saw the initial model taking shape and nearly ready for final inspection and covering etc.2 DA 170 twin engines were installed .
A few weeks back I was asked to carry out the initial test flights,and CAA paperwork was applied for.I decided initially that it would make sense to fit some wheel bogies onto the floats so the tests could be done first on dry land---and at some future date we would then float test and test on water.
At the side of the factory,is a brilliant disused runway ,where many fantastic Blackburn aircraft have been flown from,including Bucaneers and Hawks ,so permission was granted for us to use the facilty ,and a few weeks back the initial test flights were done ---followed this last Friday,and with a few weight changes ,another 3 solid hours of flying -and as the pics show it flew great.the top speed of the original was approx. 75 mph,and the model flies at approx. 40mph ,but with the telemotory system built in ,the engineers in the adjoining factory were logging all the data,and on one downwind pass we managed just over 50 mph.
On the stall tests I obviously gained height just in case ,but a very gentle stall followed but I was amazed to hear from the data room that it lost 150 ft on the recovery--it certainly didn't look it and recovery was effortless.The pics give an idea of how big the model is at some 7 m wingspan---weighing in at just over 200lbs.
So the initial flights are now complete and ready for the BA Systems guys to decide on the next steps--ie do they float and do we fly from water---time will tell !!!!
The plan was to have the aircraft ready to fly by September this year for the Factory families day.
After several more visits and many phone calls over the last year discussing best ways of construction etc,a couple of months back saw the initial model taking shape and nearly ready for final inspection and covering etc.2 DA 170 twin engines were installed .
A few weeks back I was asked to carry out the initial test flights,and CAA paperwork was applied for.I decided initially that it would make sense to fit some wheel bogies onto the floats so the tests could be done first on dry land---and at some future date we would then float test and test on water.
At the side of the factory,is a brilliant disused runway ,where many fantastic Blackburn aircraft have been flown from,including Bucaneers and Hawks ,so permission was granted for us to use the facilty ,and a few weeks back the initial test flights were done ---followed this last Friday,and with a few weight changes ,another 3 solid hours of flying -and as the pics show it flew great.the top speed of the original was approx. 75 mph,and the model flies at approx. 40mph ,but with the telemotory system built in ,the engineers in the adjoining factory were logging all the data,and on one downwind pass we managed just over 50 mph.
On the stall tests I obviously gained height just in case ,but a very gentle stall followed but I was amazed to hear from the data room that it lost 150 ft on the recovery--it certainly didn't look it and recovery was effortless.The pics give an idea of how big the model is at some 7 m wingspan---weighing in at just over 200lbs.
So the initial flights are now complete and ready for the BA Systems guys to decide on the next steps--ie do they float and do we fly from water---time will tell !!!!
- Img_1192BROUGH RESIZE.jpg (40.24 KiB) Viewed 9638 times
- Img_1193BROUGH RESIZE.jpg (11.97 KiB) Viewed 9638 times
- Img_1200BROUGH RESIZE.jpg (17.63 KiB) Viewed 9638 times
but what an achievement, well done to all involved. Dave what will you fly next. 
